


"Long Ago and Far Away"

by polikszena



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26864524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polikszena/pseuds/polikszena
Summary: She should have known it was a bad idea to turn on her mother’s old record player. Or at least she should have checked what Cora had left on it, then she wouldn’t have been attacked by some silly old love song.An entirely spontaneous and out of context modern AU Mary/Matthew fluff inspired by the song 'Long Ago and Far Away' form the film Cover Girl.
Relationships: Mary Crawley/Matthew Crawley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	"Long Ago and Far Away"

_Long ago and far away_ _  
I dreamed a dream one day  
And now that dream is here beside me  
Long the skies were overcast  
But now the clouds have passed  
You're here at last_

Mary Crawley wrapped the loose grey cardigan around herself as she was sitting in an armchair in the drawing room. She should have known it was a bad idea to turn on her mother’s old record player. Or at least she should have checked what Cora had left on it, then she wouldn’t have been attacked by some silly old love song.

She absolutely hated love songs and did everything to avoid them as much as possible. Not only because she found them disgustingly cheesy and annoying, but also because they caused her pain. Although not all love songs hurt her the same way: some of them hit her ears, others, especially with nonsense lyrics, hit her head. Those she could easily shrug off, giving them an eye roll or a mocking comment; however, there was a third type of love songs which needed more than an eye roll: the love songs that hit her heart. And those were the songs she hated the most. They were unpredictable. She could never know when she would hear one that contains a line, or even just a word or a note that could find its way through her ribs and make her heart wrench or put a lump in her throat.

The song on the record player was a song like this. A duet, most probably from an old movie (Cora was a huge fan of those), sung by a man and a woman Mary couldn’t recognise. Whoever they were, their song made her heart swell and her eyes tearing up. A part of her wanted to jump up from the armchair and turn it off, then hide the record somewhere no-one could ever find it, but she couldn’t make herself move. She was just sitting there and listening, with her hand on her mouth, while chills were running up and down her spine and tears on her cheeks.

“Are you still down here?” Mary heard a familiar voice from behind. Looking up, she saw Matthew, standing by the armchair. “Are you quite alright?”

“Yes,” she replied, hoping that he wouldn’t notice the tears. She knew he wouldn’t mind her being vulnerable, but she still had to get used to that. “Everything’s fine.”

He didn’t say a word, but slightly raised a brow of which Mary knew she couldn’t deceive him. “Alright, I was caught off-guard by a stupid song,” she admitted after a short silence.

His glance shifted to the record player and his lips curled up into a small smile. “Oh, I know this one,” he said, then joined the two singers: “ _Chills run up and down my spine, Aladdin's Lamp is mine_ ,” he sang, then he held out his hand to her, as if he was asking her to a dance.

“I’m not dressed for that,” Mary shook her head. She didn’t even have a bra on! Just a pair of flannel pyjama bottoms and a long-sleeve top, plus the cardigan.

“I’m not dressed for that either,” he said, gesturing towards his worn-out Metallica T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts he was wearing.

“Fair enough,” Mary said, taking his hand. He had already caught her crying over an old love song, so dancing in the drawing room wearing pyjamas couldn’t be much worse. Matthew stepped out of his slippers and they began to dance, barefoot on the carpet.

“Just don’t let Papa or Granny see you like this,” Mary said in a teasing tone. “She would never get over the fact that you don’t wear those fancy pyjamas she bought you.”

“And Robert cannot bear that I prefer Metallica over ACDC,” he added with a chuckle.

“At least it’s not a Marx and Spencer T-shirt,” Mary said, remembering last Christmas when poor Tom came down for breakfast wearing a T-shirt with Karl Marx’s and Bud Spencer’s face on it which outraged the whole family.

“I’m afraid that was my fault. He got it from me,” Matthew admitted and they both laughed.

_Chills run up and down my spine_ _  
Aladdin's Lamp is mine  
The dream I dreamed was not denied me  
Just one look and then I knew  
That all I longed for  
Long ago was you_

As they were dancing in their pyjamas, barefoot, cheek to cheek in the drawing room, a smile touched Mary Crawley’s lips. In many years, this was the first time a love song made her smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I blame Rita Hayworth, Nan Wyn and Gene Kelly for the existence of this fic. I was listening to the song "Long Ago and Far Away" and had this idea, as I think the song fits the Mary/Matthew ship so well. You can listen to the song here: https://open.spotify.com/track/3fT8z51oZw99YToncMDaEq?si=HKt9t39uSou9DMJO9qGKEQ


End file.
